Flexible wall coverings, such as fabric coverings, have enjoyed increasing popularity in recent times, even though the use of flexible coverings has origins centuries ago. The potential for such coverings to enhance the thermal and acoustic properties of a surface has also stimulated the desirability of flexible wall coverings, especially in conjunction with insulating materials and acoustical materials as part of a fabric covering system. With the increased popularity of these materials, designers have demanded increasing flexibility in presenting an aesthetic covering. Thus, designers are always seeking to reach beyond the limitations of existing techniques to achieve different "looks".
One particularly desirable "look" is the "building blocks look". This combines a sense of strength, security and solidity with a feeling of warmth and insulation of the fabric. Heretofore, to obtain the appearance of individual blocks, sections, or modules it was necessary to install separate modules which were cut to size and covered with fabric prior to installation. This method requires a high labor input to fabricate and install the panels composed of the separate modules. Module alignment on the panel was further made difficult due to unavoidable size variations from one module to another.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for producing full size panels having the appearance of modular pieces, usually one over the other. It is a further object to prepare such panels with a minimum of additional labor over that to produce a single modular piece. It is a still further object to provide a process and apparatus that operates substantially automatically to provide the modular-looking panel of this invention.